


30

by A26



Series: A26 Ereri Fairytales [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Albino Levi, Also Hange gets tazy-crazy, Also OTTERS, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Crocodile!Reiner, Enemies to Friends to Lovers ish, Fairy Tale Style, First Kiss, Fluffy, Jellyfish!Annie, Levi is just grumpy at the start, M/M, Marine Biologist Eren, Modern Setting, Orca!Bertolt, True Love's Kiss, Tsundere Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), elements of magic, merman levi, older Eren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 12:05:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5496482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A26/pseuds/A26
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi is a cursed albino merman with a bad temper and a ticking time limit to his thirty year lifespan which is drawing dangerously close to its end. The remedy for his curse? True Love. </p><p>No one thus far has captured the salty creature's heart, that is until he lays eyes on a certain brown haired young man who is tasked with the impossible... Cleaning his tank.</p>
            </blockquote>





	30

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TaneKore](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaneKore/gifts).



> Because nothing says Happy Holidays like a slightly fishy fairy tale that doesn't once mention anything to do with Christmas. (Oops :D) 
> 
> I was given a very long list of prompt ideas. I picked a few out and just rolled with it. 
> 
> I threw in a direct sneaky quote from the little mermaid, see if you can spot it! 
> 
> I hope you like it!

A long time ago at mankind's birthing age, there were two sisters who lived in the very darkest depths of the sea. These two sisters were both immensely beautiful creatures with long white hair, pale pink complexions and the world's most gorgeous pearlescent white scales shimmering down the lengths of their finned and webbed bodies. 

One sister had long glowing hair like the light of an angler fish, whereas the other would have delicate fingernails as sharp as coral. One had fins which were long and sharp, the other had more floaty, membranous fins which would dance gently with the movements of the water around her as she gracefully moved. 

As far as their personalities went, one was effervescent, the other more reserved and introverted. They complimented one another like day and night, needing the other to exist in their own respective roles for creating and maintaining oceans. They were the Goddesses of the seven Seas. The fairer of the two was responsible for creating the seas, whereas the other sister, with the sharper features, was responsible for making any changes once the sea had been created. It was this one who held most of their magic, and effectively did most of the work in maintaining of their homes. 

One day, the more sociable of the two decided to take a trip up to the surface to feel the sun on her scales. She was basking lazily on a rock in the middle of the ocean when a lone fisherman crashed his boat beside her, distracted by her beautiful shiny scales and alluring long hair. Rushing to help the man, the Goddess found herself using what magic she possessed, usually reserved for the birth of seas, to mend the man's boat and guide him to shore. 

Returning to the depths and unable to shake the fisherman from her mind, the Goddess returned to the shore in which she had led the fisherman, hoping to see him again. He in turn had returned to the same spot too, also hoping they would have chance to meet again. The pair grew immensely close, the Sea Goddess returning to visit every day for months. 

Meanwhile back in the dark depths of the ocean, the other sister grew jealous of her sister's new found love. She had found her sister's scales changing colour slowly with the effects of falling for the fisherman and her tolerance of the deepest darknesses of the seabed becoming intolerable to her. Whatever she had done with her heart, it had warmed her body from it's pale pink, changing her scales to the most beautiful shades of teal, aquamarine, rich violet and gold. Her fins had spread wide and her skin complexion darkened into a soft peachy tone, very similar to that of the humans, likely due to her exposure to the sun's warm rays. 

The vibrant of the two told her pale skinned sister that she wanted her to use her magic of change to grant her legs and lungs so that she may join her lover on the land. Green with envy, she agreed. Little did her sister know, there was a cursed price on the gift given to her. 

Surely as promised, she was indeed granted what she required to live on land, but the curse detailed that any of her and the man's children and all of their future children's children would be bound to the sea unless they discovered their true love. They would not have tongues, to woo their loves with sweet words, nor would they be given permission to walk on land until their found other half confessed their own love.

These children were what would become the mer-people of the sea. They would be bound to water unless they found true love with a human, at which point they would be granted legs, tongues and lungs. If they found true love in another merman or woman, they would remain where they were in the sea but be granted the same powers of creation and immortality as their ancient scaled ancestors, so they may carry on their work. 

Once granted the ability to walk amongst humans, they would also age like one and be granted a lifespan based on that of their chosen love, so that they would age evenly and ultimately die together. All merfolk would be bound by darkness like the unloved, jealous sister. These children would forever be nocturnal creatures in their scaled forms and finally, the crux of the curse, they had until the age of thirty to find their love, or they would die. 

The trouble the merfolk found as they evolved over the centuries, was that once they had found their true love, their bodies would begin to change as if in silent communication of their feelings. Their pale pink eyes would soften into light blues and greens, their pearly scales and white skin would soften and warm into pearlescent blues, purples and greens and their hair would darken either into golden yellow, rich browns or slightly more rare, black. 

As a result of their changing bodies with the effects of falling in love, they found themselves being hunted for their multicoloured scales as they were the most beautiful thing the humans had ever seen. They were sharper and stronger than diamonds and bore more colours than a peacock's display and as thus were highly desirable across the world's trades. As civilisation took it's natural twists and turns over the centuries and the hunting of mer-people was forbidden, certain organisations were set up for the conservation of a now endangered species. 

Those of the remaining mer-people who hadn't found someone to love remained cautious. If their scales gave away their feelings, they too may be hunted like their brothers and sisters. 

That didn't stop deep-sea poachers and illegal hunters from capturing pale skinned mer-people and trying to attempt to get them to fall in love. Most of the time it was unsuccessful, leaving the tormented, silent creatures to starve because they weren't able to force a natural feeling. Some people would rescue these creatures and keep them as large pets or zoo displays for small portions of their pale lives, others would go a lifetime and never see one in person. 

A lot of mermen and women would try to find other merfolk to fall in love with so they could stay in the sea, so the numbers visiting the surface undoubtedly begun to dwindle... 

... 

"You're gonna be late," came a tired voice from the hallway just off Eren's living room. He was sat on the sofa going through some notes before he left for his final exam in marine biology. He had a job lined up working for their local aquarium and aquatic rescue centre which oddly enough held a prerequisite of knowing sign language. Rumour had it that they housed a merman for his own safety and that he had a basic understanding of human languages. Eren was more excited about the prospect of seeing one up close than the actual job itself, which was an exciting opportunity to get some real field work done straight out of university. 

He trudged through his exam and finally found himself in induction meeting a huge list of people of whose names would take weeks to fully remember. He didn't really get to do much interesting work with the actual marine life until about two weeks in, when he was assigned a cleaning duty of the facility's largest tanks. 

"Alright Eren, go get suited up. I'll wait here for you and get the supplies," his manager Hange told him. He did as instructed and returned in his wetsuit, only to be handed a bucket and a few cleaning supplies. The complex had a large collection of huge tanks which weren't open to the public which contained the more timid or highly aggressive rescue animals. Eren was introduced to each inhabitant as they worked along the stretch of tanks. 

There was a large family of otters, which Eren quite enjoyed the company of although couldn't remember all of their names, as well as a few more aggressive animals such as 'Berty' the Orca, 'Reiner' the saltwater crocodile and 'Annie', a quietly deadly box jellyfish. Eren preferred Annie over the others. He always had a soft spot for jellyfish. 

Once at the end of the hall, Hange stopped, their expression serious. Eren regarded them with an equally tense posture, waiting for the next instructions. 

"This is Levi, hopefully you'll be able to work with him a little better than his last handler." Eren peered into the dark lit tank. There was a few scattered leafy plants and a large coral cave at the back, facing the glass. The huge tank itself looked fairly clean on the outside but had what could have been weeks of buildup on the inside. Eren spotted a pair of red eyes glaring at him from the darkness of the cave, unable to make any other features out. 

"Levi is a merman. He gets very aggressive when we clean the inside." Hange explained, starting to scrub at the outside of the tank. Eren followed suit, focusing more on the contents of the tank more than the cleaning of it. 

"Is it true what the textbooks say about them?" Eren asked. Hange shrugged a little, fixing their sponge onto the end of a long stick to get to the top of the tank's glass. 

"You'll just have to find out for yourself. We've had lots of specialists come in to work on his temper, but he's so unresponsive and difficult so they've kinda given up hope on him. It's quite sad really." 

"How old is he?" 

"We've never got close enough for a proper physical, but he's gotta be in his late twenties. I guess we'll see if the rumour about their thirty year lifespan is true." Hange shrugged, a slightly melancholic tone in their voice. 

"Did you name him?" 

"Sort of," Hange said as they swapped out the soapy sponge for a squeegee, screwing it onto a large pole for reach. "The people who brought him in found him washed up and suffocating about a mile from here on the rocks, caught in a pair of tattered jeans. Hence the name Levi." 

"Oh, that makes sense, I guess. It still seems a shame to give up hope on such a rare species." 

"Well you're more than welcome to try and get to know him, but I doubt he'll take to you any more than he has anyone before you. For a creature who relies on others for his survival, he's strangely anti-social." Hange said with a shrug. "It would be amazing to document the changes they go through once they do find their true love though. For science, of course!" Hange exclaimed excitedly. 

Eren hummed in response, peering into the darkness of the cave at the back of the murky tank, wondering just what creature lay within...

\--- 

Alongside Eren's day job at the rescue centre, he had more or less become known as Levi's primary caretaker, despite not once laying eyes on the creature. He had also begun reading previous notes made on interactions with Levi and found very little information he would be able to use aside from his extremely basic understanding of sign language. The most detailed account had actually described him almost killing a diver who attempted to clean his tank. No one had dived after that, rather risking long poles from the top of the tank to clean the glass. Levi had not allowed even long poles to scrape the algae away, so his aggression toward intruders had ultimately landed him in a tank too dangerous for anyone to clean. He also didn't fare well with company, so he was secluded at the far end of the complex. 

Eren had attempted to introduce other species of sea creature to clean the habitat, but he'd only return the following day to find every last trace of them missing from the tank, presumably eaten. 

Eren tried talking to Levi. 

He tried tapping on the glass to get his attention.

He even brought his guitar in one day, to practice a few songs. Perhaps pique the merman's interest with music. 

Nothing. 

Levi would never emerge from his cave, letting his surroundings grow greener and greener until one day Eren was forced to get up on the top of the tank with a scraper. Needless to say the young man was somewhat anxious about doing it. He fixed the scraper to the end of a long pole and slowly lowered it into the water, pausing just above the water line to see if Levi would take the bait and attack like all of his reports said he would. 

With no response, Eren worriedly wondered if the poor creature had died in that cave. The missing invertebrates and the food that would go missing overnight said otherwise though, so he dismissed the thought. Eren dipped the scraper down into the water and pressed it against the glass, pushing downwards carefully, shifting weeks of growth as slowly as he could. The large filters would take care of anything he scraped off the glass, so he kept going when Levi showed no signs of interrupting. 

"That's it. There's a good boy." Eren said quietly to Levi, despite doubting if he would hear or understand. One of his reports from a previous caretaker had recorded Levi drawing shapes and words out on the grime in his tank, mainly profanities in response to attempts to probe at him and learn about his physique. His reports had also stated that he was immune to every tranquilliser they had attempted to feed into the water. Eren understood that he himself wouldn't like to be poked and prodded at for science when he had a very important task ahead of him and a shortening time limit to do it if he wanted to live. 

"There we go, that's one side done. Was that so hard?" Eren continued quietly, removing the bar and shifting his weight where he was stood to access another opening panel on the roof of the large tank, lowering the scraper to the next wall of glass. Again, no interruptions other than a fish carcass being spewed out from the opening of Levi's dark rock cover and into the murk of the now extremely foggy water, created by all the loose algae particles floating around freely. Eren then tended to the opposite wall to the one he'd just done, leaving the side closest to Levi's cave for last. 

As soon as he pushed the long pole all the way to the bottom, he noticed a flash from behind him. He turned, keeping his feet forward and glanced over his shoulder to Hange and another colleague Mike, who were staring at him actually cleaning Levi's tank without having his scraper attacked. Eren grinned at them both who were busy gathering photographic evidence, when their faces dropped in an instant. Before Eren had a chance to turn back around, his footing was pulled from beneath him as the pole in his hands lurched forward. 

Rather than letting go, he instinctively gripped it tighter, hoping he may use it to prop himself up and regain his balance. This didn't help however, as he fell forward straight into the tank with a loud splash, the force of the fall stinging his cheeks and chest. Collecting his senses quickly and realising the potential danger he was in, Eren caught a glimpse of Hange and Mike scrambling to the top of the tank to pull him out just before he was pulled down into the murky water and pushed down, down into the very bottom of the tank, his back hitting harshly against the rocks. 

He winced, and could have sworn he saw blood floating in the water around his face, but fought to keep his eyes open and could see through blurry eyes a pale figure with piercing red eyes looming dangerously close to his face, a pair of firm hands pinning him down, the spines on which were pinching at his skin through his teeshirt. He could vaguely hear yelling in the background and as quickly as the weight had forced him to the bottom of the tank, it was gone. He regained his senses enough to push himself from the bottom of the tank and up to the surface of the water where Hange and Mike were instantly there to help haul him from the water.

Heaving for breath, Eren wiped his hair from his face and looked up to an extremely surprised pair of faces. Mike had a first aid kit and had a gauze ready to press to a small cut on the back of his head. 

"What is it?" Eren breathed out as he caught his breath. Hange shrugged a little and rested their hands on their hips.

"We thought you were a goner for sure! He's never let anyone go like that before..." 

\---

Levi would only emerge at night time, when no one was watching. This was something Eren had learnt after a couple of months of consistent routine with tending to the larger tanks. His flat mates and best friends Mikasa and Armin had started expressing their concern for the amount of times Eren would come home late. Eren would shrug it off and divert any suspicious claims of him finding himself a girlfriend by saying he had a busy workload. 

The reality of it was he was deeply intrigued by Levi. He was fond of the creature even if they'd never really met face to face before. He was elusive, mysterious and as Eren had learnt at the bottom of the tank that day, powerful. Not so much with his strength, although he was definitely stronger than Eren in a physical sense, but it was the way in which he glared at Eren, eyes piercing into his very being, screaming thousands of unspoken questions.

He wanted to get to know Levi. Not for work per se, although his reports would prove useful, but rather to sate his own curiosities and perhaps even help the merman who spent his months inside a rock cave in the dark. 

Eren had finished with his other responsibilities and saw the other staff members off, setting off for Levi's tank like he would every evening after work for a few hours. The tank cleaning had become very simple with the scraping stick, Levi not touching it again after pulling him into the tank that one time, so the glass was clear. Eren switched the lights off and took a seat beside Levi's tank. Just off to the side, so he wouldn't be in plain view. 

Soon enough, after about a ten minute wait, Eren remained as still in his seat as he could, frozen in place by what emerged from the cave. Levi had short white hair, pale, almost white skin and a long, graceful tail from his waist down. The scales on his tail and arms were a pale pinky white, much like the colourless, albino creatures one would find in the depths of the deepest parts of the ocean. It had only then really occurred to Eren that this creature may be light sensitive. The fluidity and calm in which the body moved through the water was like watching the care and the grace of a blue whale. 

There wasn't much light shining through the tank but what parts did touch Levi's pale complexion had Eren staring in wonder and unconsciously leaning forward in his seat. Levi seemed to catch the movement and stopped in his tracks, eyes narrowing directly at Eren. The seated brunet slowly stood, holding his hands out as if to make himself seem less threatening, slowly backing away from the tank. 

Levi's expression furrowed into a frown at this and to Eren's surprise swam closer to the glass, pressing a white webbed hand against it, still staring at him. Eren stopped backing away and slowly took a step forward. Levi didn't seem bothered by the movement, staring at him intensely as if commanding him to come closer. Once Eren's nervous feet had taken him up to the glass, Levi removed his hand from the tank wall and peered down at the young man. 

"Hello," said Eren, accompanying it with a sign with his hands. Levi tilted his head to the side, leaning closer. Eren felt a little bit awkward and unsure what to do with himself under the close scrutiny. He didn't really understand how merpeople communicated (outside of learning a human signing system), since they didn't have tongues. Levi's simple response to Eren's greeting was a gesture that was most definitely impossible to mistake for anything else. 

The merman had thrown him a thumbs up.

Eren was being treated to an extraordinarily rare and close-up view of Levi. He'd curled his tail beneath himself into a coil and was seemingly sat on it, his arms resting in what would have been his lap if he had legs. Eren blinked and looked up at him cautiously, taking in every detail he could about the shapes of his fins, the gentle movement of his delicate gills along the sides of his neck and collarbones and the breathtaking shimmer of his pale pearlescent scales that coated his tail, waist and parts of his chest, face and arms. 

His ears were essentially a collection of webbed spines sticking out from the side of his head and his delicate looking fingers had sharp white nails and clear webs between each. He had light pink lips and a very pale complexion, his skin holding a similar shimmer to match his scales.

Eren was lost for words.

\--- 

Eren's shifts slowly turned into more primarily night-based shifts, spending less and less time at the centre during the day and more time there at night to observe their most elusive nocturnal resident. He had learnt that Levi wasn't anti-social like everyone assumed him to be, he was just easily irritated since they tended to him when he'd rather be sleeping, hence the bad mood. 

When not aggravated, Levi was calm, quiet and occasionally showed moments of playfulness. He also had, from what Eren understood, a good understanding of the English language and a crude sense of humour if you could call it that. Multiple times he'd received middle fingers from the merman or other hideously lewd gestures Eren didn't know from where he'd learnt. 

Tonight Eren was going to try to see what Levi's vocabulary was really like, beyond the odd invisible hand job or profanity written on the glass. Once on the top of the tank, he unhooked the lid and dropped a waterproof tablet inside which was designed by Hange specially for Levi to communicate with. It would allow him to write and draw pictures without the need for verbal communication. Eren had his own regular version he'd hopefully use for demonstration purposes. 

Once back on the ground, peering into the dim lighting of Levi's tank, he watched as the merman swam from his coral cave and investigated the new object with interested caution. Smiling softly to himself he watched as Levi picked it up and gnawed on it, pleased he'd requested for Hange to reinforce it against Levi's sharp teeth. He waved to catch Levi's attention and the creature turned to look at him with his stern red glare. 

"Oh you're not really angry at me." Eren said jovially. He'd learnt that although Levi put on a menacing show, he'd easily soften if you didn't pay it attention or pose as a threat. He was easily startled and angered but just as easily relaxed. Hange was having a whale of a time with the reports Eren had been writing up for their research department. 

Eren pointed at his own tablet, which said 'Hello' on the screen. Levi peered at it, narrowing his eyes as his nictitating membranes blinked over his eyes sideways. He furrowed his thin white brows and looked at his own tablet, which was lit up dimly. Curling onto his tail and getting comfortable on the bed of his tank, Levi spent a few moments looking between the tablet in his hands and the tablet in Eren's. 

His screen was already set up to be able to select certain words or phrases which would hopefully make the conversation a little more... conversational. Levi tapped at the screen once, twice, three times, Eren watching him closely to see if he was intelligently understanding the device at all, half expecting a stream of jumbled letters to be shown to him. 

Levi spun the tablet around and smirked. 

"My gills itch." The tablet read. Eren's mouth flung open. It was true, these creatures were completely sentient, not that he'd ever had a doubt after Levi's demonstrations of understanding certain sexual acts. Levi dropped the device and swum to the far back of the tank where the filters were installed, pointing at them, then dragging a thumb across his neck, glaring back at Eren. 

"Something wrong with the filter?" Eren called, signing despite the merman turning half way through his communication, dropping his equipment and pulling up the top half of his wetsuit before climbing up the ladder to the top of the tank. He removed a panel and took a look inside the filter, not finding any issues, when a loud bang startled him, causing him to bang his head on the cover. 

"Pah, fuck!" Eren muttered, rubbing the back of his head. 

Groaning and rubbing the back of his head he closed the filter mechanics lid and turned to look at where the banging had come from. Of the four large panels you could open to access Levi's tank, one was being knocked on. From the inside. 

Carefully unclasping the lid and pulling it back, Eren found Levi swimming right up to the surface, the spines on his back rising out of the water and his tail splashing as he dipped back down. Eren sat down beside the opening and carefully watched as Levi swam back up to the surface multiple times, allowing the skin of his back to break the surface and shimmer in the dim lighting. Eren was just smiling to himself, slowly placing a hand into the water for Levi's next turn, praying that he wouldn't bite it off. 

To Eren's surprise, Levi just brushed past his hand, allowing him to feel the wet, firm scales slithering beneath his fingertips. 

"Incredible," Eren breathed out. 

\--- 

"Eren my boy, how nice of you to visit!" Hange said, smiling brightly as Eren handed them another thick pile of reports he'd typed up once he'd arrived in the mid-afternoon. 

"Hey Hange." 

"So did it work?" They asked. Eren shrugged and smiled slightly.

"You could say that. He just ended up drawing things on it. He's creative, but he's not exactly very good." Eren laughed out. "He can't spell all that well, but he can read." Eren gave Hange the long and short of his research so far, then excused himself to tend to the animals. He had a full evening of draining the otter pond and scrubbing it clean with a team of four trainees. 

The otters spent most of their time over dramatically whining about how their pond had been so cruelly stripped of them, Eren feeling a little bit bad because it sounded as if they were crying. It was painfully adorable, but he couldn't give them their pond back until it was clean, so he worked on. They would be able to play and frolic and thank him later. 

After leaving the final stage of re-filling the pond to the trainees and another senior colleague, Eren made his way out of his dark green waders and into his wetsuit and down the halls to Levi's tank. What Eren saw when Levi greeted him was the merman swimming against the coral of his cave, rubbing his neck and chest against it. Worried that something might be wrong, Eren approached the tank and peered through the thick glass to attempt to get a better look. 

Levi was rubbing his gills against the sharp surface, although it seemed to do little than aggravate the skin there. His gills did look slightly red and sore, which was a concern to Eren since Levi didn't let anyone near him, or in his tank. What caught Eren off his guard the most however, was how Levi's gills had darkened in colour. Yes they were red from the scratching, but the entire skin area was also now a very light shade of green beneath that. 

As soon as Levi spotted Eren he swam abruptly into his cave and Eren didn't see him again for the entire night. 

\--- 

Eren couldn't deny he was worried about Levi when he didn't re-emerge from his cave for at least a week. He'd grown incredibly fond of the pale creature with the crude sense of humour over the months working with him, even if it wasn't all that successful. It came close to closing time so Eren begun on cleaning Berty's tank after having successfully cordoned him off from the majority of the tank. Since Levi's tank was visible from Berty's, Eren was able to keep an eye on whether Levi had re-emerged from his cave yet this evening. His submerged net of fish was still sat by the front of the tank, so he mustn't have come out for food yet. 

Eren worked on a particularly stubborn spot of the glass when he caught a shimmer out of the corner of his eye and looked up through his goggles to see a flash of white disappearing back away from the front of the tank. He could have sworn he'd seen Levi watching him. 

Pleased with the cleanliness of Berty's tank, Eren hoisted himself up and out from the tank. He'd been diving for a good hour already so unclipped his flippers but kept his kit on, staring over at Levi's tank from the top of Berty's. 

"Hmm," Eren said to himself, narrowing his eyes at the large tank at the end of the hall. "Screw it." 

He climbed down carefully and walked over to look into Levi's tank. The glass needed a clean, but there wasn't much he could do about the foliage or non-living rockeries that had been collecting algae. Whether Levi wanted him to or not, tonight, he would be cleaning that tank. By hand. Eren peered into the tank and squinted as he attempted to get a look at Levi. He couldn't see him. 

"Are you still sulking?" Eren asked when he opened the tank from the top. "It's been a week Levi. What did I do to deserve such a cold shoulder?" He goaded. No response came from the merman.

"Come on it can't be that bad." Eren said as he covered up his eyes and nose with his goggles, pushing in his mouthpiece and adjusting his oxygen tank before strapping it to his back, slipping his flippers back on and gently lowering his feet into the water. 'Please don't eat me,' Eren would repeat to himself in his mind like a mantra as he lowered his whole body into the water, finally dipping his head below the surface with his cleaning tools in hand. 

No sign of Levi, but Eren still felt a nervous tension in his chest and shoulders. He allowed himself to sink lower and lower until his feet touched the floor of the tank, slowly bending down to rub his mock mop against the larger rocks. His attention flickered between the cleaning and Levi's cave at the back and Eren felt nervous the entire time he spent cleaning the tank. 

It was only about twenty minutes later when he turned to face away from Levi's cave to scrape the glass did Eren finally spot a pale reflection in the glass. He opted to remain still and with his back to the large aquatic creature. He didn't want to spook Levi by turning suddenly. With his mantra to not become dinner still reeling in his mind, Eren held steady as the pale reflection grew slowly closer until Eren could feel the movement of water brushing his cheeks, legs and arms where the wetsuit didn't cover. 

Levi swum right up close to Eren's back and from what Eren could see through the reflection, was almost sniffing at the back of his head, curiously so, occasionally nipping at his shoulders or sides. Levi swum around to Eren's side, his face extremely close to the young man's side and he couldn't help but turn his head slightly. Levi didn't seem phased by the movement and kept inspecting Eren curiously, moving from one side to the other. 

Eren eventually turned slightly to face Levi and the merman stopped still, looking Eren straight in the eye. What Eren hadn't expected to see was the shade of Levi's eyes. They were in fact no longer a deadly red, but had definitely softened to a pale pinky white, bordering on grey. In the short moment before Levi swum off for his shelter once more, Eren had also spotted the light green colour on Levi's neck had spread down his sides and across the tops of his arms.

The skin on these areas looked noticeably irritated, scales missing in some places and Eren attempted to follow Levi to the entrance of his cave, only to be snapped at by a sharp set of teeth, his fins and ears standing up on end as if in a display of threat. Understanding the gesture and overall pleased with his cleaning efforts, Eren hauled himself from Levi's tank to take notes on his findings and progress. 

It had after all, been a huge night. 

\---

"Levi what?!" Hange shrieked into the phone. 

"He's changing colour!" Eren said, free arm waving animatedly.

"No way! I need to see this." Hange said and hung up. Eren was about to tell them he wouldn't be awake yet, but didn't get a chance. Next thing he knew he was standing in front of Levi's tank with Hange and Mike, as well as another colleague, Moblit, whom Levi had never met. Apparently this was a good thing according to Hange, who had concocted some sort of (probably questionable) plan to test something. The hairs were already beginning to stand on end on the nape of Eren's neck. The last plan of Hange's involved a proposed removal of digits. 'For science', of course. 

Eren was left in the dark as they set up their little idea, which worryingly involved a taser, and then Hange let him know, much to Eren's displeasure. 

"Alright, so Levi's never seen Moblit before, so this should work. You're the only person he's really connected with since he's been here so I want to test the idea that I think..." Hange said, making their voice annoyingly sing-song-esque. 

"Come on, out with it Hange." Eren said. 

"I reckon he's falling for you Eren. He already knows Mike and I are no threat to you, so..." Hange said with a smug grin, trailing off as they waved Moblit over to the side of the tank. Eren just raised one eyebrow, looking at the tank skeptically. He'd known about the true love nonsense but always written it off as some sort of scientific anomaly no one had cracked yet. Magic didn't exist, he wouldn't believe that. The idea did intrigue him enough to hear out Hange's idea though, which seemed plausible if not utterly ridiculous.

"Why do you have to use a taser again? Can't I just act it out?" Eren whined as Moblit put the batteries in and tested it out. It was getting late, so Levi may just be awake for this little stunt. He knew Levi had a habit of waking up early and just staying in his cave to observe the centre staff and the evening cleaners who would venture this far back into the complex, so that would be helpful and save him having to be shocked more than once. 

Eren groaned in complaint as he walked over to the front of Levi's tank, waving into it and signing "Hello Levi" as he said it out loud, trying to sound no different to how he usually would. There was a reason he'd never studied the performing arts at school or university and this was it, but he'd never have thought being tased would come with a marine biology job. He had his batshit, unconventional manager to thank for that one.

Hange made a 'shooing' gesture toward Moblit who noticeably hesitated before letting out a long, drawn out sigh and Eren faked a flinch, hunching his shoulders up a little and looking to the side to find Moblit walking over with an apologetic look on his face. Moblit stopped about three metres from Eren and held the taser out. Eren winced as soon as he heard Moblit press the trigger and instinctually went to use his arms to defend himself, but he was soon shot with a pair of wired probes which pinched right into his shoulder and pectoral muscle, dropping him to the floor in no time flat, rendering him a convulsing, incapacitated lump on the floor.

Moblit blinked in the short moment afterwards and accidentally dropped the gun as a deafening bang was heard right up against Levi's tank glass. The entire front pane of thick glass was vibrating for a moment as everyone focused on what created the noise. Levi had swum straight into the glass at full speed and was now hissing loudly at Moblit who was backing swiftly away from the tank. 

Hange grinned hugely as they all saw that yes, Levi had in fact started to change colours on certain parts of his body which at this current moment, was flared outward in what could only be described as pure rage. He looked like an enraged animal that had been backed into a corner, all fins and gills flared broad and flushed dark red in the spots where his scales hadn't started to turn light green. 

He was a truly menacing creature when angry, Hange thought. Eren groaned and Hange excused Moblit so they could calm Levi down. When Mike tried to move toward Eren to help him, Levi shoved at the glass and practically screeched, a mouth full of sharp rows of shark-like teeth snarling through the glass, creating scratches and thrashing his tail through the water quickly much like a distressed cat. Eren waved Mike off and sat up, looking up at the tank where Levi didn't move his attention away from Mike, screaming at the man with everything he had. 

"What does this prove again?" Eren said with a pained grunt, picking the probes out of his shirt and getting up to attempt to soothe Levi, signing to him that he was okay and to calm down. 

"Oh honey, we got us a merman in love!" Hange said with a grin. 

\--- 

Eren propped open the tank lid and sat there with his bucket of fishes, bare feet in the water and hands on the edge of the opening. His shoulder still ached but he could still work. He still couldn't quite believe that this creature could be harbouring anything other than interspecies platonic respect. He'd never heard of a mer-creature actually sprouting legs. Sure he understood it was possible but he couldn't get his head around how. 

"Levi?" Eren said quietly as a pale head of hair broke the surface of the water. Levi kept his neck in the water to breathe, not emerging any higher than nose level, only his eyes and ears poking out and staring up at Eren silently, watching him. 

"Say, is it true what Hange says?" Eren asked the finned creature. When Levi didn't respond, Eren gave him a fish. "I mean, with the whole magically falling in love thing?" 

Levi just gnawed at his fish, keeping his pale grey eyes on Eren at all times. 

"I mean you guys just have a thirty-year life expectancy, right?" Eren asked. Levi frowned and shook his head. Eren groaned. 

"But it doesn't make sense Levi." Eren huffed. To his surprise, Eren felt a cool, wet hand touch his own and Levi's scaled cheek brush against his leg. Smiling away any of his doubts, Eren tentatively moved his free hand down to touch Levi's hair. It wasn't anything special and just felt like cold wet hair, but the skin on the sides of Levi's face was cool and somewhat slippery, but shone in a way he'd never really noticed until now, being so close.

"Wow, you really are beautiful up close." Eren said quietly. Levi just simply sank back down into the water in response, averting his eyes bashfully, lips pressed into a thin line before they disappeared beneath the waterline. 

"Oh c'mon Levi, you're not shy are you?" Eren said with a soft breathy laugh, a sound which had Levi slowly re-emerging from the water, membranes clearing his eyes of water. Eren smiled fondly down at Levi in the water and the merman tugged on Eren's foot, blowing bubbles from his gills which Eren found highly amusing, laughing with more ease.

"What, what is it Levi, that tickles!" Eren giggled, making Levi dip his head a little lower in the water to hide the soft blue colour tinting his cheeks. "You want me to come in?" Eren asked, Levi nodded. 

"Hang on, let me get my goggles and-" Levi kept a firm hold on Eren's ankle, glaring up at him. "What, no diving?" Eren asked, Levi just pulled on his ankle once more before letting it go once he was satisfied Eren was getting in and not going anywhere. 

As soon as Eren was in the water, Levi's bristly slippery hands were on him, making him feel somewhat flustered and concerned at the same time. He was still getting his head around the prospect of this merman not being a completely unpredictable wild animal, sometimes forgetting he was sentient since he wasn't exactly a fish like the other animals he worked with and he definitely wasn't human. Not entirely at least. 

Eren treaded water as best he could with Levi's close proximity and eventually Levi let him go, seemingly not finding what he was looking for, whatever that may be. Eren tilted his head as he watched Levi push his neck above water and suck in deeply before diving down deep and out of Eren's sight. Levi popped his head back up a moment later to meet Eren's gaze and nudged him. 

"What is it?" 

Levi pointed down and signed 'come' as he held out a scaled hand. Eren perked an eyebrow and looked at said hand. The way Levi was looking at him seemed strangely endearing and so Eren gave him the benefit of the doubt and took his smooth, clawed hand, allowing himself to be guided down through the tank. Eren cracked his eyes open briefly to see where he was being led and to his surprise, they were swimming toward Levi's large coral cave. 

Levi guided his hands around Eren's waist and moved him below himself as he swum into the cave, protecting Eren from the dangling anemones dangling from the entrance. Levi pushed Eren upward and to his surprise he discovered there was a large oxygen pocket across the roof which was gently lit by deep sea, glowing creatures of various shapes and sizes. 

"Wow..." Eren breathed out, admiring the view. That is until of course he feels Levi's hands pulling at the top of his wetsuit. Eren was just able to stand upright comfortably within the height of the cave and Levi insisted upon trying to scratch through his wetsuit, so before he did it any damage, Eren moved an arm around to unzip it, pulling the top half off to see if it would satisfy the merman. 

Thankfully since Eren didn't particularly fancy getting naked at work, Levi seemed happy with the top half removed and Eren felt his cold slick skin up against his torso and Levi's tail wrapped around Eren's legs as Levi inspected the shock marks on his shoulder and chest, poking his head out occasionally to express his distaste. Eren could only laugh, having fun despite the peculiar experience and intense proximity with the dangerous creature.

Eren flinched as he felt a prick on his chest and Levi just remained wrapped around his body, as if keeping him warm. Eren was clueless as to what the behaviour meant but earlier's display of protection had clearly identified that Levi was fond of Eren, fiercely so.

He could only deduce this as a display of affection. 

\--- 

"Seriously Hange, look at this." Eren said, bare chested in Hange's office, pointing at his chest and shoulder which had been tased only yesterday evening. "I'm telling you there's something in him that has healing properties." Eren insisted. Hange just laughed. 

"Oh honey, haven't you read any history books lately?" Hange asked, which confused Eren. 

"What piece of _magical_ information am I missing now?" Eren grumbled sarcastically, accompanying his sarcasm with a jazzy wiggle of his hands as he rolled his eyes. 

"They adapt to their selected loved one very well, even to the extent of being able to heal their wounds." Hange said as if it were everyday knowledge. "I think you'll find that if you try his venom on anyone who isn't you, they would probably die. Ask him yourself if you have to!" 

And ask him Eren did. All he got in response was a nod of his head and a concerned look from the merman who regarded him with a tender stare. Another couple of weeks of consistent night shifts and Eren was able to observe and document the changes in Levi's demeanour as well as his skin tone, which was now all over, a light shade of shimmering blue green, teal almost. 

Levi had grown incredibly affectionate and Eren often found him waiting for his arrival each night. He also started helping Eren with the tank clean, which got the job done quicker, leaving more time for them to spend chatting, or at least spending time listening to Eren's voice with Levi holding himself against Eren's legs dangled in the water from the top of the tank where Eren usually sat with his bucket of fish.

Eren too found a small bubble of endearment or affection growing in him, which startled him at first. He spent weeks arguing with himself over these so-called affections before finally surrendering to the fact that his feelings had grown into the romantic variety. Eren very soon found himself enjoying Levi's company over his friend's, who were all convinced he'd found himself a girlfriend he was just too embarrassed about to let any of them meet.. 

One day Eren gave up and accompanying his fond thoughts of Levi, told his friends that if they wanted to meet this mystery person who had been leaving lingering smiles on their friend's face for days at a time, they'd have to come to his work. At night. 

Mikasa, his younger sister, was always a very protective type and keen to vet any potential suitors Eren may have. She may also have been a direct cause of a few of them upping and running. Armin had been his best friend since they were toddlers. They had met as neighbours and ended up attending all the same schools growing up. They were all incredibly close, so Eren couldn't keep it from them for long.

"Just stay here, I'll be back in a minute." Eren told Mikasa and Armin, making sure they remained somewhere out of sight from Levi, who was curled up against the glass, wistfully awaiting for Eren to return. He'd already been in once tonight to feed Levi, so at least he wouldn't be hungry. He climbed to the top of the tank to meet with Levi face-to-face and he gently explained the situation. 

"So I have a couple of friends who want to meet you. You remember when I told you about Mikasa and Armin, right?" 

Levi rolled his eyes and smirked, signing 'yes'. Eren never shut up about them. Levi gave him a thumbs up and gestured to ask whether he'd bring them to the bottom or the top of the tank. Eren shrugged and said possibly both. So Levi waited further down in the water. 

Eren waved Mikasa and Armin over who walked over toward the usually restricted to the public tank and gasped audibly as they slowly approached. 

"Woah Eren, this is..." Armin started, lost for words as they took in Levi's beautiful blue scales and now pale blond hair. His complexion had darkened recently, but only in making him seem an extremely milky skin tone rather than a stark white. Eren climbed down from the tank and joined his friend's sides, urging them to get a little closer to the tank. Levi swum up close to the glass to take a curious look at the two new humans before him, two who meant the world to his handler.

"He's a he, right?" Mikasa asked, not looking away from Levi. 

"He is." Eren said with a shrug. Mikasa didn't make any further comment. 

"Is Levi his real name?" Armin asked. Eren shook his head as all three of them admired the breathtaking creature swimming around before them. 

"Nah, his real name is pretty difficult to pronounce in his own language. It's a lot of clicks and throaty hissing, and I'm pretty sure most of it isn't even in a human's range of hearing. I'd just mess it up if I tried, so I won't bother. He likes 'Levi' though. Says it's simple and to the point." Eren said with a fond smile toward the merman, recalling the day he'd attempted to learn some of Levi's native language. Turns out a lot of it wasn't audible by human ears anyway, so that ended up being a pretty short conversation, albeit a funny one. 

"Don't they live at the very bottom of the ocean?" Armin asked and Eren nodded. 

"How did you guys get hold of one here?" 

"He got caught in a pair of Levi's jeans. Hence the name. No one knows if he was injured since he was being really unresponsive when he first arrived, that is until I rocked up." Eren grinned smugly and then softly as Levi swum up to the glass, placing a webbed hand against it where Eren was leaning. Eren idly traced the outline with a finger of where Levi had his hand and Mikasa and Armin exchanged a look. 

"Say, Eren..." Armin started, giving the pair a cautious look, eyes squinted ever so slightly as he mulled things over. 

"Yeah?" Eren didn't look away from outlining Levi's hand. 

"You two are pretty close, aren't you?" Armin said slowly, observing their interaction and the way Levi's cheeks were pleasantly tinting a light shade of purple at Eren's gesture. 

"He's quite special to me..." Eren started. "He's not got anyone else he really gets along with." 

"He seems pretty tame." Mikasa commented flatly.

"He's only like this because he knows how much you two mean to me. He's usually pretty withdrawn from other humans and not to mention awfully crude. You should have seen some of the things he would do. He trusts me, so I guess he trusts you too." Eren said with a happy smile that made Levi's scales shimmer and shudder with pastel colours, in turn making Eren's smile even bigger.

Even if Eren couldn't openly admit what was going on right in front of him, it was painfully obvious to his two closest friends.

\---

"So it's completely possible to fall in love with a fish?" Mikasa asked Armin. 

"Theoretically speaking yes, I don't see why not. There are plenty of historically recorded incidents from when the mer-people weren't actually endangered." Armin explained. 

"And?" 

"It was a common occurrence back in the day. People would fall for these beautiful creatures and they would turn into humans. Some cases as late as the eighties and nineties." Armin elaborated, earning a soft hum from Mikasa as they watched Eren sleeping on the sofa across the room, quite late into the morning. Eren had started visiting Levi on his days off work now, communicating and understanding each other more with each day. 

Levi had little patience for typing out sentences and often got frustrated with spelling, so gave up quickly with the tablet Eren had suggested. The pair had taught each other a collection of hand gestures though, accompanied with Levi's language understanding mixed with Eren's vocal expression. Between them they could have full, albeit still somewhat limited conversations. 

Eren had learnt about Levi's upbringing, merfolk traditions and cultural systems, how they lived at the bottom of the ocean, how much magic they truly possessed and the list went on and on, whereas Levi learnt about life on dry land and often expressed his desires to walk amongst them one day. He could listen to Eren talking all night, and a lot of the times, he did. Just nodding or shaking in head in answer to many different questions regarding his upbringing. 

Eren smiled fondly at Levi one time when he admitted he wanted to walk side by side with Eren and hold his hand outside of water. What Eren didn't expect was for Levi's entire body to shudder with the admission and his scales darkened yet again. Once he was done shaking and shuddering in the water beneath Eren's view, he re-emerged with piercingly strong light blue eyes and a mop of fair, mousy brown hair, his scales no longer pastels and feint tints, but now full blown violets, teals, royal blues and shimmers of gold. 

Levi's eyes held no apology as he looked up at Eren from his tank, keeping his neck below water. He treaded water, raising his hands to communicate properly with Eren. He pointed at Eren with a stern look in his eyes, then held a webbed hand against the centre of his chest. Eren could have melted there and then, because he dropped down into the water and wrapped his arms around Levi, hugging him tightly, mumbling "me too, Levi. Me too."

\--- 

Levi was frustrated.

His scales had become pearlescent in ways he hadn't even heard of since the first siblings and shined the brightest they ever had or probably ever would. His skin was now a more healthy tone and his hair had completely saturated with colour, leaving it a shiny blue black. They would often say in fables that only those with the truest of love like that of the original sister would ever achieve such vibrant colours, and it was a testament to the bond these two souls shared. 

It wasn't the colours that frustrated him, nor did he worry in the slightest that he would be dissected for them, it was the fact that Eren had so clearly expressed his loving affections for him, just not using those three simple words that would forever end his curse. If his timing was correct, he had less than a week before his thirtieth birthday, and he watched too many poor, unfortunate souls fall victim to loneliness and perish once they hit their expiry date. 

Levi refused to get this far and not have the damned curse broken. He would get Eren to say those three words, even if it killed him. So when Eren was busy photographing Levi's physique, Levi would kiss his palm and stick it to the glass for Eren. He would shape the rocks and coral around into heart shapes and he would try constantly, to beckon him up to see him in person. Eren just smiled softly and laughed in that beautiful way he did, saying for Levi to "stop it, I'm working!"

Levi grumbled in frustration and swam into his cave. If he couldn't get him willingly, he'd just have to interrupt his work to get him to comply. As planned, about half an hour later, Eren came diving down with his simple goggles and an air tank, allowing himself into Levi's cave as if he too lived there. Levi was just lying against the soft sand bed of the cave, pretending to sleep, which made Eren smile. 

Eren swam up against Levi and allowed himself to sink down so that he was lying on top of Levi, wrapping his arms around the merman's waist to keep himself from floating off. Levi slowly opened his eyes in the dim lighting of the cave and moved a hand up to switch Eren's small torch on so his hand gestures would be seen. Eren watched curiously as Levi attempted to explain.

Once Eren understood what Levi was trying to portray using his limited vocabulary, that he was only days away from thirty, Eren's mouth dropped open, letting a flurry of bubbles escape from his oxygen mouthpiece and nostrils and his eyes widened in shock, shaking his head. Levi nodded as if to affirm that he was no exception to the rules. Levi explained in as simple sign as he could that Eren needed to voice his love, if it was in fact true. Eren, with a look of burning determination in his eyes, pushed himself off the merman and swam out and up out of the tank. 

For a moment Levi was worried he'd upset Eren somehow and that somewhere along the lines he had hideously misinterpreted Eren's feelings, but when he saw the man treading water and waiting for him at the top of the tank, he slowly made his way out of the cave and into the light, poking half of his head out from the water, blue eyes meeting green. 

"Levi. If this is what it takes to save you, then I love you. With all of my being." Eren said, just before crushing his lips against Levi's own. Levi was initially shocked but didn't pull away, embracing his love in full and kissing him back with all the ardour and tenderness he deserved. Levi revelled in the way Eren's lips were warm against his own, and Eren found himself addicted to the cool salty flavour coating Levi's. 

Levi's tail swirled around Eren's legs as they passionately kissed one another, heads tilting to accommodate for noses and arms wrapping around each other as if this would be their one and only chance to do this. Neither of them cared that they were both sinking, instead feeling the exquisite warmth that surrounded them both. 

Only when they parted for Eren to return to the surface for air did Eren realise that there was a blinding light beneath him from where Levi had not followed him to the surface. He hurried to pull on his goggles and ducked back down to try and reach Levi, unsure of what was happening and whether he had said the right thing, frightened that Levi's time had come. That he was too late.

What Eren found sinking slowly to the bottom of the tank was a grown, naked man with the most beautiful pale skin and blue black hair. Eren had no time to stare at the details but swam down to wrap an arm around Levi's unresponsive waist and pulled him to the surface, smiling broadly when he gasped in the air for the first time, like a freshly born foal, his breaths uneven and erratic. 

Eren managed to heave Levi from the tank with some effort, the man was surprisingly muscular, and rested him on his side into a recovery position, instantly rushing to a radio to signal for medical help. They had an ambulance on site within seven minutes and Levi had been wrapped up with a towel to preserve his newfound dignity. Eren stayed with him the entire way to the hospital, despite his niggling worries that he may need to breathe water if he turns back. He had no idea how the curse worked, but blindly followed his feelings that taking him away would be okay in the end. 

Tired and half asleep across Levi's legs, Eren awoke a few hours later to movement underneath him. Levi was awake. After the doctors had deemed him a perfectly healthy human being, Eren had spent at least an hour gazing at Levi's new body, stroking his soft new skin and smiling stupidly to himself as he called Mikasa and Armin to tell them what happened and how happy he was. 

Levi's eyelids cracked open for the first time and locked with Eren's straight away, taking the younger man's breath away. Levi's eyes were still a crystalline shade of blue and his hair still had a tinge of purple to it's inky strands. He just smiled at Levi and repeated himself over and over, earlier's life changing phrase. 

The first words formed using Levi's new tongue would surely be his last, many years from now, and be uttered countless times in between until that day. 

"I love you too, Eren." 

 

Fin.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this, check out my other works or leave a comment! <3


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